Back in April/May I listed my 1972 Cutlass Supreme here and on Ebay. It was the red one, really nice. It sold right away. I guess I let it go too cheap. It's now for sale on Ebay again, but not by me. I contacted the person who bought it from me and he stated that he didn't have room for it anymore and the consignment business would store it for free while it is up for auction. He also says he has a very high reserve price on it. Just wanted to let everyone know it's not my car anymore, it is listed by the person who bought it from me. I thought he really wanted to keep and preserve the past by getting an all original car. I feel kind of dumb that I sold it too cheap. I also didn't want anyone one this site thinking I was trying to pull off something.

 

You shouldn't take anything personal regarding a mere piece of assembled parts. You sold it, he/she bought it - it's no longer in your possession. Don't worry one minute whether you sold it for less than you could have sold it to someone else - it's gone. Happy Days for you & hopefully the buyer. You have no reason to feel dumb. Grab yourself a large hot fudge sundae - life will return to normal for you.

 

Flippers. You gotta not love them.

 

X2,

 

zackly. Lemme guess: Gateway, to boot!

 

If I sell something its at a price that I can live with without regret.... yes I would like the new owner to love the car as I did and to be a true Olds guy... But once its sold you have no control of it anymore and in any matter, resale, modifications, etc... It happens all the time and you actually should expect such things...

 

Preach.

This is very true, however, I have a distaste for people who try to middle-man my hobby. There is a reason usury is outlawed by certain groups, and loved by other groups; prices get blown out of proportion because that $30,000 dollar car is now being sold for $50,000 with the last three owners pocketing $5k or so apiece on the way up. I also have a distaste for people who lie to ensure the sale goes through. Sure, I've got enough money to play in this hobby, it comes from being decently skilled and paid, playing the market, and being enough of a jerk I remain on my own, but the family guy working a wage job who just wants something like his dad had when he was a kid before they sold it for the station wagon is getting priced out, and that comes from flippers and shylocks not being satisfied with some profit, but wanting like 100% profit or more on sales of cars and parts. Ripping people off bites us all in the *** eventually.

 

You can't flip a car without a buyer so maybe everybody should get pissed off at the buyers too.

 

That's called capitalism, as far as I know it's not against the law. No one puts a gun to a willing buyers head to consummate a deal.

 

Its evident here also... New member just joined... so I just picked up this ... Oldsmobile ... can you tell me about it and what is it worth? Then it turns upon for sale on the net... I always wonder why these questions are being asked now and not before the purchase, but I do know the answer.

 

Awhile back I purchased an off road mini bike from a neighbors grandson. Gave him @20.00 over what he was asking. The bike had sat outside the last two years and had really started to go downhill. Wouldn't run because the carb had gotten water in it. I cleaned up the bike, rebuilt the carb, bought a new headlight to replace the missing one, and got it running like a sewing machine. I placed it in my front and chained it to a tree with a for sale sign on it. The boy came over to see how much I was asking for it but I did not put a price on the sign. I could tell he was dissappointed it was for sale but he had not taken care of the bike in a long time. I did not buy the bike for me to ride, I'm 76 and the last thing I needed was a toy. So that being said, if you care what the purchaser is going to do with the item, do not sell it.

 

Its a material possession. Worth what people will pay, and not worth worrying about. Worry about ones soul if you want to worry.
I bought my Olds inexpensively, unexpectedly, and with little knowledge of value. Also took a chance as I was given literally 10 minutes to decide to buy, no test drive, only a visual quick inspection.
I posted asking for insurance values, and to try to get a idea of the market. I had no emotional involvement. Would have traded/sold it for a Impala or CJ7, or sold to finance such. Should I be condemned for selling at market rates. Heck no, be a fool not to.
But have since become attached to the car, once you work on something, and find it dependable, you become attached. All works out.

 

It may be legal, but I don't believe it's right to charge that much profit. It drives people away from our hobby.

 

It might do that in the short term but the market usually corrects itself. Barrett Jackson and Mecum do more harm to the market. People see cars sell there for crazy prices then think their POS sitting out in the field is worth the same.

 

Meh...

I see/experience stuff like that all the time. It will sit, and may never sell for the new price.

Me personally, I have to let that **** go once I sell something. Otherwise I'll make myself crazy.

 

I do agree with that statement.

 

Correction, it does t drive people away from our hobby, it just drives up the price out of reach of the true enthusiast.

I’m thankful I started driving when I did. The cars we enjoy were old enough to to be cheap, and common enough to be easy to find. I paid 600 bucks for my 69 in 1987, good luck finding a project car comparable today for similar money (adjusted for inflation of course). The muscle car collector hobby was just getting started, a few years later it really got out of hand.

Cash for clunkers destroyed a lot of potential project cars, the Barrett Jackson and reality TV nonsense made everyone think their junk cars are worth big money, add the investment mentality it’s no wonder people today don’t look at classic cars as a hobby.

 

Just curious how much is to much profit? I know a guy that was able to buy an open face alternator for $2. He sold it for a 32500% profit! I paid the $650 for it and was very happy about it. Should he have sold it for only 100% profit? I will say that I have been on the side of good deals and have even paid more than a asking price before but I am not driving the price of all parts by asking for it real value. Flippers do not make money when they sell something because it is only worth so much. Flippers make money when they buy it. I am not defending the flippers that are also lairs. They are their own scum.

 

I don't have a real number in mind. Maybe I am just nostalgic for a better time when people sold stuff to others who would use it and a good deal was had for both parties instead of trying to wring every drop of blood out of the turnip. I have a pile of stuff I got for $300 dollars. I am not going to try to get max dollar out of anything I end up selling as the parts I am keeping are worth the $300.

Like, in another thread, I mentioned who was selling a car. Soon as that went out, a reply of "dig deep!" went out as the guy is known to charge a lot. I'm not a greedy person, I've never sold any car parts, but I do now have extras and may sell some, and my prices will be more "move the parts" than "top dollar" because I'm not in the business of selling parts. I think, as more people got in the business of selling parts, more parts DID become available, which is good, but some folks began charging top dollar instead of good deal for everyone.

Again, it's hard to put a number on it, maybe just good old days thinking.

 

There are ****** in this business and there are guys who appreciate the hobby and are satisfied with a reasonable profit. Sell a part for market value not because you have somebody bent over a barrel.

 

Flippers suck period. Their only point is make a dollar. Could care less about the soul of anything.

One thing that I have learned here is the support for people spending stupid money even if said item may not be real. People post oh well it's worth whatever and I want it.

I do have to agree that once you sell something it is gone. What people do after it is their's is a crap shoot.

 

Soul? These cars don’t have souls. They are things, that have market value. Sold my 1967 Impala SS in 85 for $2750. Now worth 40-50k. My decision, not greed thats driven it up, but inflation and capitalism. Should I whine I can no longer afford one? Nope, just happy I can afford a Cutlass S. Some of you sound like the gun guys who bemoan ammo prices. They all ignored previous increases and didn’t buy when its cheap. Lots of folks making 2-300% profit. Good for them. They made the investment and deserve the reward. I’m sure all those complaining about flippers will have no issues selling their houses for what the market bears, following the anti flip criticism they should give a big discount. Right. Buyer beware is the classic advice, but a seller who leaves money on the table has nobody to blame but themselves.

 

Here is a story of mine, from a while ago. Bought a 66 Starfire to restore for 700 bucks. I had a lot of trim parts and even nice bumpers, taillights that I picked up over the years when parts were pretty cheap. Went and rebuilt the 425, bought new exhaust system and installed, had the seats redone, sanded it down and painted it as original. Lucky for me the trans and rear were fine. It was an absolutely great driver, lots of sweat went into it but not a lot of cash. I lost storage and advertised it in a bunch of places, finally Ebay. It sold for just under 5 G's. The guy who bought it needed a car to flip and GM Carlisle was nearing. The deal was done and when I went to Carlisle there is was for sale at a price 3 times higher than it was purchased for and yes it sold there to a dealer who jacked up the price even more and they sold it to a non car guy who wanted a 66 Starfire because his dad had one. The car was advertised as something much better than what it was also. Sorta like the children's game of whisper down the lane.... Well I broke even on the deal, my labor was basically free and the car found new home and thats what I wanted....

 

Old greybeard. These cars do have soul to many of us.

Like was stated and will be stated again. This is America. People buy and sell things all day everyday. Don't hate the player. (Well I kinda do) Hate the game. If there is a fool to pay whatever for whatever then guess what? Sold.

 

Understand the feeling, as it’s one I struggle with. I talk all the time in my garage to the 2 previous owners of my car, the old lady who had it for 29 years and the guy who rebuilt it. I do feel their presence and a need to take care of the car in my time keeping it.
But as a Christian I take the concept of a Soul very seriously, and many a Soul is lost due to love of physical objects and things.
When my daughter was 5 she told me something that I’ve kept with me since. Don’t love anything that can’t love you back. Has helped me to keep my values in place.

 

My car is not into Soul, it prefers good old Rock and Roll...

 

There is much truth in the philosophy eschewed by the late Indira Gandhi. Others have echoed similarly. Humankind would be far happier and life more meaningful if we lived our lives based upon need and not want.

 

Mine likes to boogie; it must have some soul.

 

Well if mine does have a soul, so far it’s playing alot of Hendrix and Talking Heads. 10cds in the trunk and the shuffle prefers them.

 

sold my 1936 Cord Phaeton for 5 figures mid 20s . the new owner sold it for 6 almost 7 figures after it won several junior first. sure he had to put a little work into it.
now i have my 1978 factory 5 speed Olds Cutlass. My wife's 1980 Olds Cutlass and my 2006 Pontiac solstice. Not Missing Anything. No regrets.

 

kia has a soul

 

I agree sounds to much like a whine. If you make profit good for you. If you keep stuff till it rust away to junk as in cars then that is what make me go hmmm. All of my cars and parts are for sale at a price except for the ones promised to my kids. I love my cars but I can always find another.

 

I agree with many of these sentiments to an extent. I have a friend that was looking to get into the car hobby and ran across a good deal on a 62 starfire with a great interior and minimal rust for $4,500. It was a great driver with blemishes, but had potential, and we were set to look at it over that weekend. It was bought by someone else one day before we could make the trip and subsequently relisted two days later for $11k. People like that can jump off a cliff. The car was arguably worth closer to $6k than the listing price, but having added no value whatsoever this person took an opportunity from someone with actual interest in our hobby and pushed it out of reach by trying to more than fouble their money in a day. I only hope there are enough people with decent heads on their shoulders that will force that type of person to sit on their "investment" for a couple years and realize their greed has gotten them nowhere.

 

So what, not trying to be an a$$ but this falls under you snooze you lose. By the way it sounds it was a good deal and by dragging your feet you missed out, it has happened to all of us at least once.

 

yeah, no skin off my back. If it had been another person who got a good deal to fulfill a dream of the hobby I wouldn't have a hint of resentment. If he can get some price arbitrage on the classic car market, so be it, but I see these as the vultures keeping sincerely interested people from getting their start. I have my few cars, and a rising tide raises all ships, so I guess I got mine and it's only getting better so anyone else can kick rocks.

 

I was the first caller on a 442. The seller was asking $78,000.00. I asked for a few photographs which I didn't receive the evening in which we spoke (the same evening the listing was published). I called the following morning and the car was sold for $78,000.00.
A few months later the same car reappeared this time with a selling price of $115,000.00. No changes or repairs were made.
Not a bad profit, $37.000.00, if the car sells.

 

The thing is, there are some people that believe in honest work to make money, and there are others who think being a middleman and only raising the price to make money is ok. I have no issue with honest profit for honest work, but I don't like grifters, salesmen, and money-changers.

 

Without saying too much, thumb's up.

 

See you and I are good. Thanks for having a soul.

 

Amen. People that just play to make a dime? Not my kind of people.